Chicago announces 'fundamental' changes to police practices

Chicago police will undergo changes in officer training, affecting interaction with suspects and the use of all types of weapons - from pepper spay to guns. The change is done in the aftermath of mass protests sparked by a series of police killings.

Chicago mayor called it "one of the most meaningful policy changes in our history". The change was urged by a series of incidents in which officers killed people, which were deemed by the public as an excessive use of force and sparked numerous protests.

The authorities in Belgium’s capital have decided to cancel the city’s traditional New Year’s festivities because of the threat of terrorist attacks. The move comes after the arrest of two people suspected of planning an attack targeting the holiday.

December 30, 2014: the Dutch Commercial Chamber gave the green light to join online as a registered company, and the next day, at 11 am, *INC* News Commentary officially entered in the network as a reporter and commentator on the most important news of the day, collected and shared with the main Journalistic Agencies in the world.

Today, exactly one year later, we can say that, thanks to our visitors and readers, we have achieved a good result, though not the final one, with 600,000 visitors from 15 countries (in the three pages which make up the site - the only first page reached 350 thousand), who read more than 30,000 news from everywhere and about every topic.

INC News does not stop there: 2016 will see the site expand with more novelty and the

number of pages, and begin our ongoing commentary on the news in the initial 4 languages. There will be many new things, but as always they say, will reflect the demands of those who follow us and support us, in a world where the news from journalism is taking on a new and more modern dimension.

Stay tuned, soon we are coming out even in the app, and all will be much easier to read or see or hear what happens in the world every day.

We take this opportunity to express all our warmest good wishes for the end of 2015 and the beginning of a very happy 2016!

Storm Frank is sweeping through the British mainland - with residents in southwest Scotland and Cumbria bracing themselves for fresh flooding, weeks after Storm Desmond. Flooding in Dumfries and Galloway is expected to be "worse than it has ever been", Sky's Gerard Tubb reported. The River Nith was "rising quite fast" as the rain continued to fall, he said, with a storm surge forecast for around 3pm on the Galloway coast.

Syria’s envoy to the UN has accused Turkey of supporting terrorist groups and covering for their invasion into Syria. Urging the UN to end Ankara’s “violations and crimes,” Bashar al-Ja’afari also warned that Erdogan’s goal is to “revive” the Ottoman Empire.

“Since 2011, an unprecedented terrorist war has been waged against the Syrian Arab Republic by armed terrorist groups, the members of which come from more than 100 countries,” Ja'afari, Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, wrote in his letter to the world body, TASS reported. “Those groups are being provided with funding, weapons, material and logistical support by states and regimes of the region and beyond.”

Kenya’s mobile money transactions hit $23 billion in the 10-months to October which is $4 billion more than in the same period last year, according to data from the country’s Central Bank. The East African country leads the world in mobile money use, and could make a new record this year. Kenya’s 10-month transactions equal the country’s entire transfers for 2014.

The use of the service this year could surpass the $27 billion mark, an unnamed information technology expert told the Xinhua news agency.

"If subscribers transact an average of $2.2 billion a month, then it means in November and December they will move at least $4.4 billion. If you add it to $23 billion it comes to $27.4 billion, which is a new record," said the expert.

Kenya’s average monthly transactions stood at $2.2 billion this year compared with $1.9 billion in 2014. October saw the most transferred when $2.51 billion was sent via mobile phones. It’s the highest ever transaction made in the history of mobile money services.

Kenyans use mobile financial services to buy goods, pay bills, pay fares, send and receive money. It’s the easiest way to make payments as most of the people don’t have bank accounts.

A group of tourists on a visit to the Naryn-Kala fortress in Derbent, a city in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, were shot Tuesday night by unknown gunmen. The attack left one person dead and 10 injured. The attack occurred when twenty tourists were on a panoramic terrace of the ancient fortress.

Media cited local police as saying that the gunmen aimed at the tourists’ flashing cameras to make sure they hit people. Eleven people were wounded and taken to the hospital, where one of them died.

A 4.9 magnitude earthquake has struck near Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada, the US Geological Survey said. Tremors have been reportedly felt as far away as Seattle. The epicenter was 19km northeast of Victoria and struck just before midnight. A tsunami warning has not been issued.

No injuries have been reported, while the seismic activity was reportedly 42km deep, according to CBC. Nearby Vancouver has shut down its SkyTrain Expo, M-line, due to the quake. The authorities say it will only reopen once the situation is considered safe, Trans Link BC is reporting on its Twitter feed. The Vancouver Mayor’s office says there have been no reports of any major damage in the city, with no power outages either.

An auditor general’s report in 2014 mentioned that British Columbia is not prepared for a major earthquake. Experts say that a quake with a magnitude of 7.3 could prove catastrophic, resulting in as many as 10,000 deaths, while some buildings would collapse, the Vancouver Observer reports.

The last major earthquake to hit the area was on Vancouver Island in 1946.